


Members Only

by kikikryslee



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Awkward Flirting, Blow Jobs, Boxing, Flirting, Fluff, Gyms, Hand Jobs, Locker Room, M/M, Mutual Pining, Pining, Semi-Public Sex, Shower Sex, Smut
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-19
Updated: 2017-10-19
Packaged: 2019-01-09 05:01:01
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 14,484
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12269409
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kikikryslee/pseuds/kikikryslee
Summary: “Well, I’m gonna go work out now, so…” Harry said, his voice trailing off.Louis nodded. “Yeah, yeah, go ahead. Go get, uh, you know, strong and buff.”What?Louis wanted to die.“Um, thanks?” Harry said. “Um…”Without another word, Harry walked away from the desk.Louis pinched his thigh – hard – hoping that was some terrible, awkward nightmare that he might soon wake up from.---Or, the one where Louis works at Harry's new gym and neither one of them knows how to hold a coherent conversation with the other.





	Members Only

**Author's Note:**

  * For [stealmoons](https://archiveofourown.org/users/stealmoons/gifts).



> OK, so I can't even say how excited I was to get this prompt, because it was very similar to something that I had been thinking about for a while. So it was an awesome motivator to finally write it! So thank you, stealmoons for submitting it! 
> 
> Thank you so much to my betas [S](https://sweariwouldnt.tumblr.com/), [P](http://goldbootsandvans.tumblr.com/) and [A](http://fightingforlarry.tumblr.com/) for working on this for me! I appreciate you so much! 
> 
> Prompt: AU where Louis works at the front desk for the local gym, Harry is a regular, and they somehow always end up having awkward run ins within the locker room

Harry knew he should’ve been paying attention. He was new in town, and came to the gym to sign up for a membership and try some group classes. He also needed to find out about pricing, the gym’s hours and the guest policy.

You know, basic stuff.

But he didn’t hear any of what Niall, the gym’s sign-up person or whatever his official title was, was telling him, because Harry’s eyes were focused on the guy with light brown hair, pretty blue eyes and the nice ass about twenty feet away. He was laughing with another guy who had a pair of boxing gloves in one hand and a protein shake in the other.

Boxer Boy shook his head at whatever Nice Ass was saying, which made Nice Ass frown and poke Boxer in the chest a few times. Then Nice Ass held his head high and walked away, leaving Boxer behind, laughing as he made his way toward the locker room.

Nice Ass made his way to the front desk and took a seat behind it, pulling his phone out and taking a quick look around before sending off a text.

Harry was in love. Well, maybe not love, but definitely infatuation. He wanted to know what Nice Ass liked and what he didn’t like. He wanted to know how long he’d worked at the gym and whether or not he actually worked out there. Most of all, he wanted to know if Nice Ass liked guys. Oh, and also, what his real name was.

“Would you be interested in that, Mr. Styles?” Niall asked, slightly shaking Harry out of his daze.

“Very interested,” Harry replied, although his response wasn’t to Niall’s question.

“Oh, that’s fantastic! Liam will be so happy to hear it. You’ll be his first.”

Well that certainly got Harry’s attention. “I’m sorry?” he asked.

“His first client,” Niall clarified. “Like I said, we’ve been trying to get this boxing program off the ground for a little while, but it seems like nobody wants to be the guinea pig and try it out first. Thank you so much, Mr. Styles. Like I said, you won’t have to pay for the boxing lessons you receive...”

Harry felt his jaw drop. Did he just say  _boxing_?

“But how do Saturday mornings work for you? Let’s say 9 o’clock?”

“Uhh…” Harry trailed off. He stared at Niall’s excited face before slowly nodding. “Yeah. Saturdays at 9 work great. Can’t wait.”

\---

The next day, Harry went to the gym, wanting to check out the equipment and things before going to boxing on Saturday and ultimately torturing himself.

He still couldn’t believe he’d signed himself up for fucking  _boxing_ lessons. When he told Niall he wanted to try new workouts, he meant more weight training, or using the swimming pool, or cycling. He hadn’t meant fucking boxing. He’d never boxed in his life. He knew that once this Liam guy, who was probably Boxer Boy from the day before, saw him, he’d laugh him right out of the gym.

He’d have to find a new place to work out before he could even find out Nice Ass’ real name.

Speaking of whom, Nice Ass sat behind the front desk when Harry walked in. Unfortunately, he was the only one there, so Harry had to give him his keycard so he could scan him into the gym.

“Morning,” Nice Ass said without looking up from the magazine he was reading. He reached a hand out and Harry laid his card against his palm.

Nice Ass quickly scanned it and handed it back. Then he looked up. “Have a good worko-”

Harry paused as Nice Ass stared at him.

_Do I have something on my face?_

Either way, Harry’s face started to feel hot under Nice Ass’ gaze. “Um, is something wrong?”

“No, um… I just- Sorry. Are you new?” Nice Ass eventually asked.

Harry smiled. “Is it that obvious?”

“No, not that. I mean, I just haven’t seen you before, so… I was curious.”

“Oh. Well then, yeah. I just signed up yesterday.”

“Oh, OK. I thought so, because, I mean, I know  _every_ body at this gym. Well, no, not everybody. I’m not like, some all-knowing super popular, um, person… You know. I’m just familiar with everyone here. I’ve worked here for almost two years. Not that you asked, but… yeah…”

Harry just nodded, taking in everything Nice Ass just told him. “Right. Um…”

“Have a good workout!” Nice Ass practically yelled at him before turning around to look at something on the counter behind him.

Harry felt like he had whiplash. That had been… a lot. With a nod, Harry walked around the corner, headed for the locker room.

Maybe the next time he talked to Nice Ass, he would actually get his name.

\---

As soon as the future father to Louis’ children walked away, Louis whipped around toward the computer.

“Fuck,” he hissed. Unfortunately, the system only displayed a customer’s information for fifteen seconds before vanishing from the screen.

Apparently, the gym valued people’s privacy or some other bullshit. Louis had never been so anti-privacy in his life. He needed to know the guy’s name.

Louis sighed and decided that the next time Pink Lips – his new nickname – was in the gym, Louis would find out what his actual name was.  

\---

Harry walked into the huge training room at the back of the gym on Saturday morning. It was empty except for one guy at the punching bags. He wore a black tank top with gray basketball shorts with a red stripe down the side and gray sneakers.

He had on a pair of boxing gloves and seemed to be taking out the week’s aggression on a black punching bag.

“Hi,” Harry called out softly.

The guy didn’t hear Harry, so he cleared his throat and tried again.

“Hey!”

That got him. The guy stopped and turned around, pulling a red ear bud from his ear.

“Hi!” he replied excitedly. “Are you Harry?”

Harry smiled. “Yeah, that’s me.”

“Hi! I’m Liam.” Liam walked over to Harry and extended a glove-covered hand to shake. “Nice to meet you.”

“It’s nice to meet you, too,” Harry said, shaking Liam’s glove. “You seemed really, um, into the boxing just then.”

“Well, it’s sort of my passion, I guess. Wait, you do know what’s going on here, right?”

“Yeah, I think so. Niall explained it to me when I signed up.”

“Great!” Liam cheered. “So yeah, we’ve been trying to get this program off the ground for _ever_ so I’m so happy that you’re trying it. I mean, I originally got certified to be a personal trainer but I  _love_ kickboxing, so I figured if we could get this class going then I could do it all the time, but for some reason it’s been really hard to get enough people to sign up so that I could actually get some feedback and figure out how exactly I’m supposed to teach kickboxing, you know what I mean?”

Harry’s eyes widened. He was positive this guy hadn’t taken a breath yet.

“And that’s the magic of it! You get five free lessons, and at the end of it all, you get to give me feedback and critique my teaching style, so definitely tell me if I’m doing OK or if there’s anything else I should be doing. How’s that sound?”

Harry cleared his throat. “Um, good? Is it OK if I say something now or do I have to wait until the end of the month?”

Liam’s face immediately fell. “Oh, no. You’re not dropping the class already, are you? I didn’t even do anything yet.”

“Liam!” Harry said loudly. “My one tip is just to calm down, OK? I know you’re excited, but… Wow. You’re excited.”

“Oh. Sorry. Seriously, though, it’s been forever. But I’m going to make it as fun as possible. It’ll be a lot of work, but still fun.”

“That’s fine. Honestly, I’m always looking for a new workout. That’s sort of why I joined this gym.”

“Well tell me about that,” Liam said, taking off his gloves. “What do you do now?”

“Mostly just yoga and running. I’m not really experienced with anything else.”

Liam grinned. “Well we’ll have to change that then, won’t we?”

\---

Louis hovered outside of the door to the training room at the back of the gym on Saturday morning. It was only 10 o’clock, and he already wanted to kill Liam. How  _dare he_ not tell him that his first boxing client was none other than Pink Lips, only the hottest guy Louis had ever seen walk through the doors of his gym.

Of course, just two days earlier, he’d made a complete idiot of himself in front of him, stuttering his way through an explanation of why, as the guy at the front desk, he actually knew people in the gym. And then he  _stared_ at him for an uncomfortably long time, probably just enough to have Pink Lips think he was a creep or a serial killer or maybe something even worse.

God, what Louis wouldn’t do to see Pink Lips bite those lips and get them even pinker, holding back his moans as Louis went down on-

_Shit._

Louis quickly moved to the side of the door and turned his back to it, because Pink Lips was leaving the room now.

He pushed the door open and walked away, headed for the locker room, and Louis didn’t even let the door shut before rushing through it and right up to Liam.

“So, how’d it go?” Louis asked as casually as he could. He was pretty sure he sounded like he was dying, but Liam was too excited to notice.

“It went great! The guy was really nice. He’s never done boxing before, but he said he was up for trying something new, and he was pretty good at it,” Liam told him. “I think it’s going to work out.”

“That’s awesome, Liam… Um, what was his name again?”

“His name’s-” Liam started. But then he saw the look in Louis’ eyes. “No.”

Louis chuckled. “Liam, come on. I have my moments, but even I’m not dumb enough to believe that guy’s name is ‘No.’”

“That’s not what I meant. I meant,  _no,_ I’m not telling you.”

Louis pouted. “Why?” he whined.

“Because I don’t want you to scare him away, Louis! That’s why! I’m finally getting this program off the ground; I’m not letting you scare off my only client, not after I’ve been waiting for months for this.”

“I would never scare him away! What about me is scary?”

“Not so much scary, but I don’t want you to start seeing him or whatever but then it not work out and he has to find a different gym and leave this one forever.”

“Have you really no faith in my ability to keep a steady relationship? And to keep it not awkward if the guy and I can’t make it work and I see him here all the time?”

Liam didn’t answer. Instead, he just cleared his throat and finished packing up his equipment.

Louis gasped loudly, mostly for dramatic effect. “I take offense to that! I can’t believe you would be so rude, Liam. After all I’ve done for you, and this is the thanks I get. Wow… I can’t believe this is how I find out who my real friends are.”

Liam just stared. Then he said, “I’m still not telling you what his name is.”

Louis stomped his foot. “Goddammit, Liam! Fine. You know what? I’ll just look at the computer the next time he checks in at the front. That’ll tell me all of his information.”

“Fine.”

“Fine.”

They stood there in silence for a moment, Liam trying not to laugh and Louis trying to catch his breath from his outburst.

“So I’ll see you at home later?” Liam asked.

“Yeah, that’s cool. I’m done at four.”

“OK. I have to run by the grocery store. Do you want anything special for dinner?”

Louis shook his head. “No, that’s OK. Surprise me.”

“All right. Later. Love you.”

“Love you, too. Even though you’re the worst roommate in the world.”

“Yeah, yeah.”

Liam walked toward the door, making sure to knock his shoulder into Louis’ when he passed him.

Louis put his hands on his hips as Liam left, plotting his next move. As always.

\---

After his session with Liam, Harry just felt  _sore,_ so sore that he wasn’t sure he would be able to drive home just yet. He figured his best move would be to take a hot shower at the gym to loosen up his muscles long enough to allow him to get himself out to the parking lot and back to his apartment.

So that’s what he did. For the most part, he just stood under the hot spray of the showerhead, but it still counted as a shower.

When he finally stepped out, he made sure his towel was secure around his waist before wringing out his hair one more time over the drain. He made sure he had all of his things before heading toward the door leading from the shower stalls to the rest of the locker room.

As soon as he pushed it open, though, he knocked it into someone else walking by, causing him to drop all of his stuff.

“Shit, I’m so sorry!” Harry instantly said before dropping to his knees. He looked up again and started to say, “I didn’t see you,” but his voice stalled out when he saw that he’d bumped into Nice Ass.

And then he realized that he was on his knees in front of him, wet and completely naked except for the towel tied around his waist.

“Uh…” they both said at the same time.

Harry could feel himself blushing, and then blushed even more when he remembered that he wasn’t wearing a shirt, which meant that Nice Ass could see the red color all across his chest.

He cleared his throat, looked down and started to pick up his stuff. Nice Ass also knelt down to help Harry, and when they both reached for Harry’s body wash at the same time, their fingers brushed, and Harry felt like he was probably going to explode from how hot he was.

“Um, here you go,” Nice Ass said quietly.

“Thank you. Uh… yeah. Thanks.”

“Yup.”

Harry stood up and nodded once before walking away, hating himself with every step he took. Of all the ways to make an impression, Harry sure knew how to pick ‘em.

\---

A few days later, Louis sat at the front desk, hoping that the last ten minutes would go by quickly so he could clock out. Liam and Niall had already left for the night, so he didn’t have anyone to annoy to pass the time.

He watched the people out on the gym floor, running on treadmills and lifting heavy weights and getting all sweaty.

Louis wrinkled his nose. The idea of getting sweaty in a stale gym was not appealing to Louis in the slightest. He much preferred to run around outside playing soccer or to jump around with his younger siblings on his mom’s trampoline.

The only person he would want to see working out the gym, honestly was –

Louis heard the door open and turned to see Pink Lips, the fucking devil himself, truthfully, walking in.

 _Shit,_ Louis thought to himself. He knew he looked horrible. He’d been there the last twelve hours, only because Louis volunteered to stay later so Perrie, who had an emergency, could leave early. His hair was probably all greasy, and his skin dull, and of course, the love of Louis’ life was coming in, looking like he’d just stepped off a runway for a high-end line of sweatpants.

“Hi,” Louis said, a little too loudly, when Pink Lips was close enough.

“Hey.” Pink Lips handed over his keycard, and Louis scanned it.

He subtly looked at the screen and happily said, “Have a good workout, Harry.”

Harry looked really confused, and Louis realized his mistake.

“Um, it comes up on the computer when I scan your card,” Louis explained. “That’s how I know your name. I’m not like, creeping on you or anything. I swear.”

Harry furrowed his brow, and his frown became even deeper. “Um, I wasn’t thinking that… Now I kind of am.”

“No! No, like, I promise, it’s on the-” Louis stopped when he saw that Harry’s information was no longer displayed on the screen. Fucking security. “Uh,  _was_ on the screen.”

“OK.”

“Yeah.”

They stood there for a minute, in yet another awkward silence.

“Well, I’m gonna go work out now, so…” Harry said, his voice trailing off.

“Yeah, yeah, go ahead. Go get, uh, you know, strong and buff.”

_What?_

Louis wanted to die.

“Um, thanks?” Harry said. “Um…”

Without another word, Harry walked away from the desk.

Louis pinched his thigh – hard – hoping that was some terrible, awkward nightmare that he might soon wake up from.

\---

Harry returned to the gym on Thursday night, excited for his first yoga class. He’d had a long day at work and was looking forward to stretching and relaxing for an hour.

Before he entered the building, though, he looked through the glass doors to the gym, and saw Nice Ass at the front desk. Harry quickly ran his fingers through his hair, hoping he was actually making it look decent and not frizzier.

Then he took a deep breath and walked in.

Nice Ass – Harry really needed to learn his name – looked up as Harry walked in, and he smiled right away.

“Hi, how are you tonight?”

“I’m good. You?”

“I’m good.” Nice Ass took Harry’s card and scanned it before handing it back. “Have a nice workout.”

“Thanks.” Harry started to walk away, but stopped. “Um, what’s your name?”

Nice Ass looked away from the computer. “What?”

“Your name. I mean, you know my name, so it’s only fair that I know yours, too, don’t you think?”

 _Smooth_.

Nice Ass smiled. “Yeah. Um, I’m Louis.”

Harry nodded. “Nice to meet you, Louis.”

“You, too.”

Harry gave Louis a quick wave and then headed to the back training room for yoga, the smile on his face staying fixed there for a while afterward.

\---

Louis bit his lower lip as he watched Harry walk away, the grin on his face threatening to become somehow bigger than it already was.

Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Liam shaking his head.

Because Louis was, well, Louis, he just smiled at Liam before flipping him off.

\---

“Good, Harry, good,” Liam praised on Saturday morning as he held his black boxing mats in front of his chest.

Harry stood just in front of Liam, punching the mats as Liam instructed him to. It was only their second lesson, but Harry was amazed at how much he’d been able to pick up, and how his body was already getting used to the rigorous workout.

“Cross, jab,” Liam said.

Harry did the desired punches, staying light on his feet the whole time, waiting for the next instruction.

“Left, right, left.”

Harry punched again.

“Jab, jab, right.”

Harry did the punches and took a step back, waiting for Liam to give him something else.

But Liam just put the mats down and held up his fist for Harry to bump it.

“I’m really impressed with you, you know,” Liam said.

“Thanks,” Harry said breathlessly. He stripped off his gloves and grabbed his water bottle.

“Not everyone is as good as you right off the bat. It takes some people a while to get as quick as you.”

“Yeah, well you’re a good teacher. And it’s fun. I didn’t know how I would like it, but I’m enjoying it all so far.”

“So what do you think? Maybe next week, we’ll start with some kicks?”

“Yeah?” Harry asked.

“Yeah. I mean, we have ten more minutes today, and then just three lessons after this. I have to see what you can do. And what I can do, of course, as far as teaching you.”

“Well I’m ready. Whatever you want, man.”

“Cool.”

Harry took another drink of water and looked through the glass windows looking out to the main floor. He saw Louis sitting up at the front desk, bobbing his head along to whatever music was playing over the speakers.

“Hey, um…” Harry cleared his throat. “Do you know that guy Louis?”

Liam shot up straight, his eyes wide and hands clenching the mats. “Why?”

“Um, no reason. I just was talking to him today. He seems nice.”

“Oh. He’s not. He’s kind of a jerk.”

Harry frowned. “Aren’t you friends with him?”

Liam awkwardly laughed. “Well, what can I say? I’m friends with jerks. Anyway, let’s finish up. We have a few more minutes before I cool you down.”

He held up the mats in front of his face, and Harry figured the conversation was over. He strapped his gloves back on, and started bouncing on his feet, waiting for Liam to tell him what move would come next.

\---

Harry walked into the locker room after his boxing lesson, still wiping his forehead off with his towel. He wondered why Liam had said that about Louis, that he was a jerk. From his experiences with him, Louis had seemed OK. He’d never given off the jerk vibe; at least Harry didn’t think he did.

Harry stripped off his soaked T-shirt and dropped it to the floor. He looked down at his chest, still glistening with sweat, wondering if it was obvious that he’d been boxing.

He walked over to the sinks on the opposite wall and stared at his reflection in the mirrors above them. He flexed his arm muscles a few times, not noticing anything very different yet. He shrugged and turned around, and of course, Louis was standing there.

“Hey,” Harry said.

“Um…” Louis replied. “H-hey. Good workout?”

“Yup.”

“Cool.”

They stood there awkwardly, neither one of them mentioning Harry’s current state of undress, and also ignoring how Louis’ eyes kept traveling all over the place.

“Um, I’m just gonna, um, go to the bathroom.” Louis pointed to the back of the locker room, where the door was that led to the stalls.

“OK.”

Louis started walking away, and, entirely too late, Harry called after him, “I wasn’t checking myself out in the mirror or anything!”

Louis paused for just a second, nodded once and kept walking.

Harry rolled his eyes at himself. If he had to look up the definition of ‘embarrassing’, he was almost positive his own face would be sitting right there in the dictionary.

\---

The next day, Louis stared at the clock, trying to time this right. He was ‘working’ at the front desk and wanted to time this exactly right. Harry had gotten off the treadmill and gone back to the locker room exactly fourteen minutes ago, which meant that he was showering. On shower days, it usually took him about twenty minutes before coming out of the locker room, so Louis had a few more minutes before making a trip back that way before ‘accidentally’ running into him.

He felt a gust of wind on his face as someone opened the door to the gym. Without looking, he held out his hand for the person’s key card so he could scan it.

“Have a good workout,” he said, a bit delayed, to the person who was now headed toward the machines.

Out of the corner of his eye, Louis saw Niall approaching the counter.

“Louis, can you-”

“Nope.”

“You don’t even know what I was going to ask,” Niall said with a sigh.

“Doesn’t matter. It sounds like work.”

“You  _work_ here. Like, you’re paid to do mindless chores around this place.”

“Not right now, I don’t,” Louis told him. “Hang on, I have to run to the locker room. Be right back.”

He knew Niall was probably rolling his eyes and shaking his head, but Louis couldn’t be bothered yet. He had a chance encounter to make happen.

When Louis entered the locker room, he immediately noticed how quiet it was. He didn’t hear the showers running, so he wondered where Harry was. He wasn’t by the first row of lockers right by the door, so Louis walked back to the second one.

He had to hold in his gasp.

There Harry was, in all his naked glory, toweling himself off. There were still water droplets all across his back, and his hair was down in waves at his shoulders. Louis was lucky with that, because Harry’s curls were blocking his face, which meant that he couldn’t see Louis creepily staring at him.

But Louis couldn’t help it. Harry’s broad, back muscles led to shoulders and arms that looked like they could support Louis against any surface of this gym. His ass, while small, looked firm, and Louis just wanted to pinch it.

Or maybe kiss it.

Or even lick it.

Louis shook his head, getting himself out of his stalkerish gaze. And it was good timing, too, because Harry was starting to turn around.

Not having a choice, Louis dashed to the next row of lockers and hid behind them, hoping Harry didn’t see him. He waited there, not wanting to move or breathe, praying to whatever God was paying attention that Harry would just leave the locker room without walking over to the next row and seeing Louis hiding there like the pervert he was.

After a few minutes – Louis thought – he heard Harry close the door to the locker he’d been using and exit the room.

Louis counted to fifteen before trying to walk out as casually as he could, but he was pretty sure he had a guilty look on his face.

As soon as he could see the front desk, his heart sank. Harry was standing there talking to Niall. Harry had a happy expression on his face, his eyes lit up and smile wide. His hair had been pulled up into a bun, and he wore a tight-fitting black T-shirt and blue track pants.

Louis wondered if he could hide somewhere until Harry left – for real, this time – since he didn’t think he could actually talk to Harry at the moment.

The images of Harry’s naked body were too fresh in mind, and Louis knew they wouldn’t soon be leaving.

But luck was not on his side this time, because just as Louis started to back away slowly, Harry looked his way and waved him over.

“Oh, good,” Louis muttered. He walked over anyway.

“Hey, Louis,” Harry greeted him.

“Hey,” Louis replied, keeping his eyes down toward the floor. “Uh, how’s it going?”

Louis knew he probably seemed rude, but it was better than looking at Harry and instantly getting a hard-on, now that he knew what Harry looked like under those sweats.

“Um, fine?” Harry answered. Louis risked a peek to see that Harry looked really confused, since Louis was usually happy to see him.

“Great. Good to hear that.”

“Yeah… Um, I’m gonna head out, but I guess I’ll see you guys later?”

“Yup. See you.”

“Bye, Harry,” Niall said.

When Louis was sure Harry was gone, he looked up and took a deep breath.

“So that was weird…” Niall started.

“I saw him naked,” Louis confessed.

“Huh?”

“In the locker room. When I went back there, he was standing there getting dressed and I saw him completely fucking naked. And he looked really fucking good.”

After taking in Louis’ serious expression, Niall burst into laughter. He didn’t stop for a while.

\---

The next time Harry came in, Louis was ready. He took a deep breath and put a big smile on his face, hoping Harry had forgotten about his behavior the last time they saw each other.

“You’re feeling better, then?” Harry asked, giving Louis his card.

No such luck.

“Yeah… Yeah, I had a, uh, headache the other night. The light was killing me.”

“Oh. Yeah, it can be kind of bright in here. You know, I thought you were like, mad at me for something.”

“Oh, no!” Louis said. “No, I promise I wasn’t. Just a headache.”

“OK. Um, well I’m actually trying cycling tonight, so wish me luck.”

“Oh, have fun. I’ve always wanted to try that.”

“Why don’t you?” Harry asked.

Louis resisted snorting right in Harry’s face.

“Uh, you know, the classes are never at a good time, you know? Like, they’re always right when I’m working, or I can’t clock out in time. Yeah. Maybe next time.”

“I’m holding you to that,” Harry said, pointing at him.

“Deal.”

“All right, I’ll see you later. Got a class to get to.”

“See you.”

Harry headed to the cycling room, which coincidentally had an entire wall of windows, which allowed Louis to see right inside.

He watched as Harry smiled and waved at the instructor before picking a bike. To Louis’ extreme frustration, he picked a bike in the back row, and because the bikes faced inward, and thanks to the window wall, Louis would have the perfect visual of Harry’s ass as he rode a bike for the next hour.

Part of him was annoyed, part of him wanted popcorn and part of him wanted to watch extra carefully so he would have something to get himself off to tonight.

Wouldn’t be the first time.

\---

“Hey,” Louis said to Harry when he walked in on Thursday.

“Hey, how are you?” Harry asked. He handed Louis his keycard to be scanned.

“I’m good. Just waiting for this shift to be over, you know?”

“Oh, I bet. When did you get in this morning?”

“Not til 12, luckily, but I’m still ready to be done, which will be soon, so I guess I should stop complaining.”

Harry smiled. Louis wanted to poke his dimples.

“Well that’s good! Um, I should head back, but I’ll talk to you later?” Harry asked.

Louis nodded. “Yeah, you have yoga tonight, right?” Louis pointed at the yoga mat in Harry’s hand as if to say that’s why he knew Harry had yoga tonight. It wasn’t like he’d memorized Harry’s gym schedule or anything. That would be silly.

“Yup. Looking forward to it.”

 _So am I_ , Louis thought to himself. He’d love to see Harry in all kinds of compromising positions, all stretched out and showing how flexible he was.

Louis would bet that Harry could do all of the ‘pretzel poses,’ getting all bent up and warm and sweaty and-

Louis stopped thinking with a gulp. And because he turned his brain off, he couldn’t stop himself from saying-

“Save me a spot!”

 _What_.

Harry, who had been walking away, turned back around. “Huh?”

_Yeah, my thoughts exactly._

But now that Harry was staring at him, Louis figured he might as well go big or go home at this point.

“Um… Save me a spot in there?” Louis stumbled.

“You do yoga?” Harry asked.

“Yeah. Every week.”

_Fucking liar._

“Really? Oh, I’ve never seen you.”

“Yeah, um, it’s usually in the morning. Or during the day. But yeah, I’m waiting for my coverage to get here, and of course Perrie is running late, so… But yeah, I’m totally coming.”

 _Why am I like this?_ Louis wondered.

Harry grinned, though, so Louis supposed it wouldn’t be too bad. “Well cool, then. Yeah, I’ll save you a spot by me. OK?”

“OK.” Louis saw Perrie coming from the locker rooms, so he told Harry, “Be right in. Get us a good space.”

“Cool.” Harry was still smiling when he walked away, so Louis hoped Perrie would be a good person for once.

“Perrie!” Louis hissed when he approached the counter. “You love me, right?”

Perrie eyed up Louis and kept walking.

“Perrie Louise, get over here!”

Perrie sighed. “Yes, Louis?” She didn’t walk over to the counter, but she didn’t walk out of the building, either, so Louis figured that was a good sign.

“I need you to cover me so I can go to yoga.”

Perrie frowned. “I’m sorry. Did you just say you wanted to go to yoga?”

“Yes! Keep up!”

“Correct me if I’m wrong, but didn’t you once say that yoga was only for hippie vegetarians who needed to learn how to breathe?”

Louis shook his head. “Nope, wasn’t me.”

“What about that it was just for people who wanted to be flexible so they would be better in bed?”

“Can you just help me, please?” Louis whined. “Please?”

“Harry’s going to yoga, isn’t he?”

“Who?”

Perrie sighed again. “Go. Just know that I’m only doing this because you’ll never shut up about it if I don’t.”

“Thanks, Perrie! You’re the best!”

“You don’t listen to me when I talk, do you?”

But Louis didn’t answer her. He was too busy grabbing his water bottle from behind the desk and hurrying back to the training room.

When he walked in, Jade, the instructor, was just turning down the lights.

“Louis, what are you doing here?” Jade asked him. “You know this is yoga, right?”

“Yes,” he said through gritted teeth. His eyes darted over to where Harry was sitting on his mat, hoping he didn’t hear. Luckily, Harry was doing shoulder rolls to get warmed up, so Louis didn’t think he did. “Everyone has to start somewhere, right?”

“Yeah. Just never thought you would.”

“Why doesn’t anybody have any faith in me?” Louis muttered as he made his way over to Harry. There was a spare mat next to him, so Louis sat down on it.

“Hey,” Louis whispered as he took off his socks and sneakers. He was glad he wore basketball shorts today instead of actual pants. He was feeling warm already.

Harry just smiled at him, looking perfectly peaceful already.

Louis wanted to suck a mark into his neck.

“OK, everyone, we’re going to get started now,” Jade said in a quiet voice. “Some of you have already begun, which is wonderful. But if I could just have everyone sit up nice and straight? You can sit however you would like that will allow you to be the most comfortable.”

Louis looked around the room and decided to sit like most of the other people, on the floor with his legs folded in front of him.

“Sit up nice and straight,” Jade reminded them, “and just take a few deep breaths. Allow your eyes to drift shut.”

Louis closed his eyes but then peeked one open to see what Harry was doing. He looked completely relaxed, his chest rising and falling slowly and evenly.

After a minute, Jade had them stand up to do something called a sun salutation. He stood at the top of his mat like he was instructed and brought his hands together in front of his chest, hoping he wasn’t about to make a huge fool of himself.

He followed Jade in the rest of her movements, as he stretched backward and forward and went into a downward-facing dog that had Louis wiggling his ass just the slightest bit in hopes that Harry was choosing that moment to look over at him.

Up until that point, Louis wasn’t actually sure if Harry had given him a single thought. Harry was the definition of ‘focused.’ He had his eyes zoned in on Jade, following her routine and keeping his form perfect.

If Louis wasn’t so annoyed at how good Harry was at this, he would’ve been impressed. Because the truth was, Louis was actually not good at yoga. He couldn’t keep his spine straight to save his life and with every new move, he felt like his balance was never quite where he needed it to be.

He was very thankful Jade wasn’t one of those instructors who walked around to correct people’s forms, because if that was the case, she would’ve just had to move her mat next to his to save the time of walking over.

Luckily, Louis hadn’t fallen yet. There were a few times when he came close, like when Jade led them into a side plank that had his ab muscles burning, or when they had to do the tree pose and Louis almost face planted into his mat, but fortunately, he’d managed to stay upright.

Unfortunately, it seemed that Jade wanted to push Louis to his limits without even realizing it.

“OK, one of our last poses for the evening will be[ crow](https://images.cdn-outlet.com/yo-images/guide/yoga/15511006272011111649.jpg) pose.”

Louis didn’t know what that meant, but a lot of people, including Harry, seemed ready to try it.

“Now, this can be a very challenging pose, so only try it if you feel comfortable with it,” Jade instructed. “If you are new to this, or maybe aren’t having good balance tonight, you can just squat down and rest your hands in prayer pose in front of your chest, like this.”

Jade modeled what she meant and looked around to the room to make sure everyone understood. He ignored it when it felt like her eyes lingered on him for an extra moment.

“But if you’re ready to do this pose, you can start by squatting down and placing your hands flat down on the mat. When you’re ready, you want to bend your elbows just a little, and sort of lock your arms up as you bring your knees up to rest on them.”

Louis’ eyes bulged out as Jade got into the pose. Around the room, people were trying it. Some of them got it and some were wobbly in their attempts.  

Then Louis made the mistake of looking over to Harry, who was resting in the pose with his eyes closed, as if him balancing his body on just his hands wasn’t a big deal.

Since Harry’s eyes were shut, Louis figured he might as well try. He followed the steps Jade gave, and managed to get his knees to the back of his arms for exactly one second before toppling over and hitting the floor with a thud.

 _Fuck_ , Louis swore to himself.

He took a deep breath, hoping Harry had managed to not hear that, but of course, he was staring right at Louis.

“Are you OK?” Harry whispered, still in his pose. How Harry hadn’t fallen over at the sudden noise was beyond Louis, but of course it looked like there wasn’t anything this guy couldn’t do.

Louis nodded and smiled, hoping he was being convincing. He crawled back onto his mat just as Jade said to come out of the pose.

They finished up the class about ten minutes later, thankfully after a nice, long savasana.

“Well that was embarrassing,” Louis attempted to joke as he and Harry rolled up their mats.

“What was?”

Louis rolled his eyes. “Come on. You know what I mean.”

Harry just smiled. “Everyone falls, Louis. It happens.”

“Even to you?”

“Back when I first started, sure.”

“How long ago was that?”

“Um…” Harry thought over the question. “Like three years ago, I guess? I was having some back problems, and my doctor told me to try yoga. Attended a class and I’ve been doing it ever since.”

“That’s awesome.” Louis took his mat over to the pile of extras in the corner and returned to pick up his water bottle.

“When did you start yoga?” Harry asked.

“Uhh, pretty recently, actually.”

It wasn’t a lie.

“Oh, cool. Yeah, I like this class. Jade doesn’t go too fast like some other instructors go.”

“Yeah, she goes nice and slow. Really gives you time to feel each pose and get it right, you know?”

“Exactly!” Harry said. “I think so, too. Some instructors try to squeeze too much into one lesson, and it feels rushed. It just defeats the point of yoga, you know?”

“I get it. It’s not cool.”

“I don’t know if yoga is supposed to be cool.” They pushed open the doors to the training room, getting out to the main floor of the gym.

“I think it’s pretty cool,” Louis said. “I mean, some of the poses you guys can do are so impressive.”

“I’m sure you can do some of those impressive poses, too.”

“Eh, not really.”

“Don’t go based on today,” Harry told him. “So your balance was a little off. It happens to everyone.”

“Yeah… Yeah, I guess you’re right.”

“I know I’m right.”

“Not full of yourself at all.”

Harry laughed. “Not at all. But, I want to get in a quick shower, so I should head back.”

“OK. I’ll see you around.”

Harry turned and headed toward the locker room. Louis only watched him walk away for a few seconds.

That was it.

\---

Harry stood at his open locker after yoga and pulled off his shirt and pants before reaching for his water bottle. The problem was, it wasn’t there.

He checked his duffel bag again, and came to the conclusion that he must’ve left it in the training room, too busy talking to Louis to make sure he had all of his things.

But Harry still counted it as a victory; he didn’t say anything stupid or overly embarrassing to Louis today. He actually managed to have a normal conversation with him. For once.

Harry figured he’d just have to go back and get it after his shower. Hopefully nobody would take it.

He pulled down his boxers and added them to his pile of clothes. As he picked up his towel and unfolded it, he heard someone clearing his throat behind him.

He turned to see Louis standing there, Harry’s water bottle in his hand.

“Hey,” Harry said.

“Hey.” Louis cleared his throat. His eyes fell down south before shooting back up. Louis turned away.

And then Harry remembered that he was pretty much naked, with his towel only halfway around him.

“Um…” Harry quickly wrapped the towel all the way around, securing it tightly around his waist.

“Yeah.”

“You found my water bottle.”

Louis peeked over at Harry, and once he saw that the towel was on, he took a step forward.

“Yeah, it was in the training room. Someone brought it up to the front desk when I was leaving, so I figured I’d just give it to you since you were still here. And, um…” Louis put the water bottle on the bench in front of Harry. “So, I’ll see you around.”

Louis turned and left the locker room.

Harry responded by hitting his forehead on the door to his locker a few times.

So much for normal.

\---

Harry felt like he was going to pass out. His lungs were bursting out of his chest, his leg muscles were on fire and he’d never sweat this much in his life.

“Three more!” Liam encouraged him.

Gritting his teeth, Harry dropped his foot to the ground and lifted his leg in a high kick, making contact with the mat that Liam held up in the air before dropping his leg back down.

“Two more!”

Harry repeated the process twice before bending over to rest his hands on his knees.

“You’re doing great, Harry,” Liam said, patting him on his very sweaty shoulder.

“Yeah?” Harry asked, trying to catch his breath.

“Yeah. Really.”

“Thanks.” He stood up and wiped his arm across his forehead, just to get some of the sweat off. “I’ll keep that in mind next time I feel like dying.”

Liam laughed. “Yeah, it can be a little tough to get used to. But after a few weeks of this, you’ll be OK. If you want to continue after the trial, of course.”

Harry smiled. “We can probably work that out.

“Really?” Liam asked, his face lighting up. “You mean it?”

“Yeah, you’re a good teacher. Once you start boxing classes, I’ll be attending.”

“Yes! All right, cool. Well let’s go, then. I have a few more moves to teach you today.”

Harry grabbed his water bottle and took a long drink from it. “Let's do it.”

\---

Once Louis saw Harry finish his boxing lesson and head for the locker room, he darted back to the training room to see Liam.

“So…”

“Shut up,” Liam said.

“What? I didn’t do anything. Just wanted to know how your lesson went.”

Liam glared at Louis. “Look, Lou, I only have two more lessons with Harry, and I really want to end them on a high note, so can you please just leave it alone?”

Louis gasped. “I can’t believe you think I still want something to happen with Harry against your wishes. What kind of friend do you think I am?”

“You really want to do this again?”

“Fine; I guess not. But don’t worry; I won’t do anything with Harry. I haven’t done anything yet.”

“You went to yoga with him the other night.”

“That’s different.”

“How?”

“Because I’m stressed!” Louis replied. “I needed some help with my… breathing.”

Liam rolled his eyes. “Louis…”

“Liam, I promise nothing will happen with Harry until after your lessons are finished and he’s given you a glowing recommendation.”

“Swear.”

“I swear,” Louis insisted.

“Not enough. Swear on your soccer ball autographed by Beckham.”

Louis groaned. “Liam…”

“Swear!”

“Fine! I swear.”

“Good. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome. I hate you, by the way.”

“I’ll survive.”

Louis walked out of the training room and headed for the locker rooms, needing to go to the bathroom. Of course, Harry was in there, getting ready for a shower. At least he was completely wrapped in his towel this time.

Louis allowed himself three seconds of staring at Harry’s chest before making his presence known.

“Hey!”

Harry looked up from his phone and smiled. “Hey.”

“How’s it going? How’s boxing going?”

“Really good, actually. I want to continue after these next two are over, actually.”

“Really? Oh, that’s awesome!”

_Suck it, Liam._

“Yeah, I think so, too. Liam’s really cool, isn’t he?”

Louis smiled. “Yeah, he kind of is.”

Harry put his phone in his locker and shut it. “Well, I really need to get a shower. I know I smell awful.”

Louis wanted to say how that just wasn’t true, and how he could stand near Harry like this, all sweaty and smelly for the rest of his life.

But that would be creepy, and pretty fucking weird, so he held back.

“Yeah, I wasn’t going to say anything…” he joked, holding his nose.

Harry snorted. “Thanks.” He turned around and started heading for the showers, but paused. “Oh, don’t forget Tuesday.”

Louis frowned. “What’s Tuesday?”

“Remember? You promised you’d go to cycling with me on Tuesday. I didn’t forget!”

Louis froze. Shit, he  _had_ said that, hadn’t he?

“Oh, yeah…”

“Don’t try to back out now. I won’t let you.”

“OK! Great! I’m really excited!”

 _Fuck_.

“Cool. I’ll see you around.”

“OK. See you.”

As soon as Harry was out of sight, Louis literally slapped his forehead with his palm. Why did he have such a problem telling Harry ‘no’? Just… why?

\---

On Tuesday night, Louis stood outside of the cycling room, hoping – no, praying – that Harry wouldn’t show up.

“Hey, Louis!”

No such luck.

“Hey, Harry!” Louis said. “You ready?”

“So ready. Let’s go.”

Harry walked in first, and Louis followed closely behind. There were only a few other people in the room, but since class didn’t start for another ten minutes, Louis figured it would fill up soon.

Harry chose a bike and started making adjustments to it, lowering the seat and raising the handlebars.

Louis picked the bike next to Harry’s, watching what Harry did, but not knowing how to fix his own.

Jesy, the class instructor, walked over to Louis and raised an eyebrow. “Are you actually taking this class?” she asked.

Louis nodded and looked over at Harry, who was watching the two of them.

“You can blame me,” Harry said. “I made him come.”

“Oh!” Jesy looked at Louis with a knowing look on her face. “Well that explains it.”

Louis plastered a fake smile on his face. “Just help me set up my bike, Jes?”

“Of course!”

After Jesy helped him get the handlebars and seat at the perfect height for him, she walked away to talk to another new person who had just walked in.

“Why was she so confused to see you in this class?” Harry asked. “Don’t you always work out here?”

“Um… yeah. Yeah, of course. Just, I’ve never expressed interest in cycling before, so…”

Harry nodded. “Oh, OK. Yeah, I guess cycling and yoga are a little different, right?”

Louis smiled. “Yup.”

A few minutes later, the class started, and at first, Louis thought it was pretty easy. By the end of the first song, Jesy told them to increase the resistance by two notches, so the bike wouldn’t wobble when they stood up.

_When we what?_

Louis thought about it for a second, then slowly remembered seeing people take this class before and suddenly get taller on their bikes. He’d thought they were like, leaning forward or something, not actually standing up.

Louis was worried now. He hoped it didn’t show on his face.

The second song started, and at first, they were still pedaling. And then Jesy said to stand up, but to keep moving their feet. Louis did it, but went so fast that he felt like he was going to go flying over the handlebars.

“And down!” Jesy called out.

Louis was confused. Didn’t they just stand up?

But he sat back down, and as soon as he was comfortable again, Jesy was telling them to stand back up.

_What the fuck?_

They followed a rhythm of standing up for four beats of the song and then sitting back down for four beats.

At the next verse, they sat back down and stayed down.

Louis was breathing heavier already and glanced over to Harry, who didn’t look uncomfortable in the slightest, unlike Louis, who knew his face had to have been red at that point.

The next song was a little easier, as they increased the resistance, but stood up for longer. Louis watched his form in the mirror, to see if he was bent at the angle that Jesy told them to be at.

It also allowed him to stare at Harry pedaling, under the guise of making sure he was doing it right.

But the fourth song was the worst yet. They had to turn the resistance up as far as they could before they were unable to move the pedals at all.

Nick Jonas’ ‘Jealous’ started to play, and they pedaled very slowly, their legs working hard just to continue moving. Louis gripped the handlebars and leaned slightly forward, hoping it would help. But then the chorus came on, and they had to stand up and pedal, and Louis wanted to pass out. Or cry. It was really fucking hard, although Louis guessed that was the point.

By the end of the song, Louis’ legs felt like jelly, and he turned the resistance way down so that it didn’t hurt to pedal anymore.

He was breathing heavily, and peeked over to Harry, surprised to see him also looking a little red in the face. At least it made him feel a bit better about his abilities.

The class went for another half hour before Jesy said it was time to cool down.

_Thank God._

They pedaled for another minute, raising their arms above them and turning their torsos to the side. Then they got off the bike and did some lunges and back bends to stretch themselves out.

Then they were done, and Louis had never felt so relieved.

“That was intense,” Louis said to Harry as they wiped down their bikes.

Harry laughed. “That’s one way to put it.”

“OK, fine. It was fucking hard.”

“Yeah, I said that last week. This week was a little more manageable since I knew what to expect.”

“So there actually  _is_ something you can’t do?” Louis asked.

Harry snorted. “There are plenty of things that I can’t do.”

“Don’t believe you. You run, do yoga, box, lift weights, cycle… What else is there?”

“Um… Well, I haven’t done Zumba. Or the water aerobics. So, there’s that.”

“And I’m sure you’d be awesome at those, too.”

Harry raised an eyebrow. “I wouldn’t be too sure. Those classes require a lot of coordination, which I don’t have.”

“I’ll believe it when I see it.”

“Yeah, well don’t hold your breath for either of them.”

They walked out of the room and headed for the locker room.

“Well, I’m glad I came,” Louis said. “I guess it’s good to try new workouts every now and then.”

“I agree. It does a body good.”

“Definitely does your body good,” Louis muttered.

“What?”

Louis froze. He turned to see Harry staring at him, one eyebrow raised and a blush across his cheeks. Harry had definitely heard that, and he absolutely was not supposed to. “Uh… what?”

“You said-”

“Oh, look at the time! I have to um, go to the bathroom and then head home. Wow, it’s getting late. I’ll see you Thursday, Harry!”

Louis rushed off, heading for the bathroom.

One day, he would have a completely not-weird interaction with Harry.

Today was not that day.

\---

On Thursday, Harry was setting up his mat for yoga. He’d seen Louis on his way in, and Louis had promised he was coming to yoga tonight. He also flipped Harry off because of how sore he was because of cycling two nights ago, but Harry wasn’t too upset about that.

“Hey, Harry.”

Harry looked up to see Jade coming over to him.

“Hey, what’s up?”

“Nothing much.” She knelt down in front of him. “Just wondering if I could ask you something?”

“Yeah, sure.” Harry sat on his mat, wondering what Jade would have to talk to him about.

“Is something going on with you and Louis?”

Harry instantly blushed and started stuttering. “What do- What? No! Why do you, um, why? Has he said something?”

“Whoa, calm down,” Jade said, holding up her hands. “Just wondering, because I’ve been trying to get him to come to yoga forever, and he’s never done it.”

Harry paused. “You have?”

“Yeah. I swear, that guy needs something. He never sits still or shuts up, if you hadn’t noticed. But yeah, whatever you did to finally get him to come… thanks.”

Harry smiled. “You’re welcome.”

Jade patted his knee and stood back up before walking to the front of the room.

Harry wondered what that meant. Why had Louis lied about going to yoga?

“Hey. You OK?”

Harry looked to the right to see Louis kneeling down on the mat that he’d left out for him. He had a worried expression on his face, though.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” Harry finally said. “Um, when did you say you started yoga again?”

“Um… Uh, pretty recently.” Louis nodded and took his shoes off, turning his body away from Harry.

“Hmm…” Harry didn’t say anything else, though, because class was starting, and he had a feeling his concentration was going to be off a bit tonight.

\---

“Harry, come on!” Liam yelled. He took a step back and held the boxing mats down by his side. “What’s the deal, man? You OK? Your focus is all off!”

“I know it is; I’m sorry.” Harry took off his gloves, grabbed his water bottle and took a long drink. “I’m just, all over the place.”

“Anything I can help you with? I mean, no offense, but your boxing sucks this morning.”

Harry laughed. “Yeah, I know. Just…”

Liam stared at him, waiting patiently for Harry to continue.

Harry sighed. “Does Louis work out?”

Liam dropped his head back. “Fuck…”

“Answer the question.”

“No, I won’t answer the question! You can’t date my roommate. Now come on, can we please get back to boxing?”

“You and Louis are roommates?” Harry asked.

“What? No. Forget I said anything.”

“Does he talk about me?”

“Jesus, I’m not doing this. I’m twenty-six and this isn’t middle school.”

“Liam, tell me.” Harry said.

“No.”

“Liam…”

“No.”

“I’ll give you a bad review.”

Liam gasped. “You wouldn’t.”

“I would. Now tell me if Louis talks about me and if he works out.”

“This is blackmail. I hope you know that.”

“I’m waiting.” Harry crossed his arms in front of his chest.

Liam sighed. “Fine. No, he doesn’t really work out. He mostly just plays soccer with some of the other guys around here. And yes… he talks about you. Asked me your name after our first session, but I wouldn’t tell him.”

“Why?”

“Because I didn’t want you two to get together because if it didn’t work out, I didn’t want it to be awkward for you to come here, and I really wanted you to keep coming back so I could finally get this boxing thing off the ground, OK?”

Harry could tell Liam was actually sorry for what he did. He almost felt guilty for making Liam tell him the truth.

Almost.

“So why did Louis go to yoga if he didn’t actually do yoga?”

Liam rolled his eyes. “Come on, Harry. I know you’re not dense.”

“What does that mean?”

“Harry, think about it. Who does yoga?”

“You mean me?”

“Yes!” Liam said. “Louis never had any interest in yoga, or cycling, or anything else for that matter until you showed up. He only went to yoga to be with you.”

“That doesn’t make any sense.”

“Once I became good friends with Louis, I stopped looking for explanations for his behavior. Give it time; you’ll get there, too.”  

Harry sighed.

“Don’t give me a bad review.”

Harry chuckled. “Of course I won’t give you a bad review. Thanks for telling me.”

“You’re welcome. I feel like I probably shouldn’t ask, but what are you going to do now?”

Harry thought about it. On one hand, he was annoyed that Louis had lied to him. But on the other, he thought it was kind of cute that Louis actually went to yoga and cycling just because Harry did. He was like a schoolboy with a crush.

But he’d still lied, and Harry figured he should do something about that.

“I’m going to have some fun with this,” Harry finally said.

“What do you mean?” Liam asked, looking a little worried.

Harry smiled. “You wouldn’t happen to have a schedule of all of the fitness classes here, would you?”

\---

When Louis walked into the locker room, the last thing he expected to see was Harry leaned up against the lockers, almost like he was waiting for Louis to walk in.

“Hey,” Louis said.

“Hey.” Harry smiled at him. “Fancy meeting you here.”

“Yeah, you, too.”

“You know, I was thinking about our talk the other day.” Harry pushed of the lockers, walking toward Louis. “I think I’m going to try water aerobics. And wouldn’t you know, there’s a class tomorrow morning.”

Louis gulped. “Oh, is there?”

“Yeah. You’ll go with me, right?” Harry asked, cocking his head to the side.

“Uh…”

“I mean, you said that you would believe that I wasn’t good at it when you saw it. Sounded to me like you would want to go if I did.”

_Fuck._

“Oh, I did say that, didn’t I?” Louis asked, stalling.

Harry smiled and nodded.

“Well, guess I’m going, then!” Louis clapped his hands, hoping it made it seem like he was actually excited to go.

“Awesome! Class is at eight tomorrow.”

“In the morning?”

“Yeah!”

“But tomorrow’s Sunday…”

“Yeah, is that OK?” Harry pouted. “You’ll still go, right?”

Louis hated the fact that while Harry stood there, looking gorgeous with his pouty pink lips, Louis was screaming on the inside.

Why did he have to start opening his mouth about working out with Harry? Who was he kidding? Water aerobics? At 8 a.m.? On a Sunday?

He had to get out of this.

“Of course. Wouldn’t miss it,” is what came out of his mouth instead.

That wasn’t the way to do it.

\---

Harry was in the pool on Sunday morning, waiting for class to start. Besides the instructor, who stood outside of the pool, there were seven other people there. Five of them were old ladies, one was a middle-aged man with a hip problem and the last was someone a few years older than Harry who had been in an accident a few months ago and was taking this class as part of his physical therapy.

Harry heard the door leading from the locker room open behind him. He turned and had to hold in his gasp.

Louis was walking over toward the pool, wearing a pair of blue swim trunks with red turtles on them. He looked nervous as he headed their way, and Harry couldn’t have been more endeared if he tried.

Louis got to the steps and slowly made his way in, taking a spot near Harry since he was the only person he knew.

“Hey,” Louis said.

Harry had to remind himself to breathe. And to speak.

“Um, hi.”

Louis smiled at him. “This feels weird, working out in just a bathing suit.”

“Yeah, it’s weird. But, um, the water feels great, though.”

“It does. I’ve never used the pool here before, actually.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, I feel kind of self-conscious in my swim trunks, honestly.”

“You shouldn’t be,” Harry said. As soon as the words left his mouth, he wanted to punch himself in the face.

Louis, however, just blushed and pressed his lips together to hide his smile.

Class started then, and Harry could’ve sworn he heard Louis mutter, “Thanks.”

He didn’t comment on it, though.

Over the course of the hour-long class, they used special water resistance bands and weights to work their upper body as they punched and twisted back and forth, and did a lot of running in place and leg lifts to work their lower body.

Harry hadn’t expected such a good workout, if he was being honest, but when he and Louis walked back into the locker room afterward, he felt great.

“I was impressed by that one,” Harry said. He went to his locker and started to unlock it.

“Yeah, I never thought I would like that so much.” Louis shook out his hair again, sending water flying everywhere.

“Stop!” Harry giggled, shielding his face from the water.

“As if you didn’t just spend an hour in the pool getting water in your face.”

“Yeah, but I’m trying to dry out now. It’s different.”

“Yeah, yeah.”

They stood there in silence for a minute. Harry tried not to stare at Louis’ bare chest, but it was tough since it was right there in front of his face. Then he realized that, while Louis had seen Harry in a towel a few times now, this was the first time he was seeing Louis in anything less than his work clothes. It was… nice.

“Um…” Harry started to say.

“Uh…” Louis said at the same time.

They both laughed.

“I should, um, get a shower, I guess.”

Louis nodded. “Yeah, I should head home.”

“You’re not working today?”

“Nah, this is my day off.”

Now Harry felt bad. “This was your day off and you let me drag you here?”

Louis shrugged. “It’s OK. I had fun. Now maybe I’ll actually be productive on a Sunday instead of spending the day in bed.”

“I still feel guilty that I made you come out.”

“Don’t. I, uh, I like spending time with you.”

Harry smiled and ducked his head. “OK.”

“OK. I’ll see you Tuesday? For cycling?”

“Really?”

“Of course. What else do I have to do on Tuesdays at 6:45 p.m.?”

“Cycling, I guess,” Harry said.

“Exactly. I’ll see you then.”

“OK. Bye.”

“Bye.”

Louis went over to the next row of lockers and grabbed his stuff. Harry at least had the patience to wait until he left before letting out a loud, embarrassing squeal.

\---

Of all the stupid things Louis had to do, agreeing to come to Zumba was definitely near the top.

After cycling on Tuesday, Harry had mentioned that he might want to try Zumba, and while Louis had rhythm on the dance floors at the clubs he visited, he wasn’t sure if dancing to salsa music for an hour was going to make him look good or like a complete moron.

But Louis had agreed to go to the Zumba class the next night for no other reason than him being completely whipped by a guy he wasn’t even dating.

At least when Louis agreed to go, Harry got that bright look in his eyes and he smiled so widely that his dimples appeared. Louis would’ve agreed to anything to get that look from Harry again.

God, he was pathetic.

What was sadder, though, was that Louis was struggling to keep up. They were halfway through the class and Louis still didn’t know how to follow the beat. The only thing that made him feel better was seeing that Harry seemed to be struggling, too. His face was red from the heat of the room and he looked adorably frustrated, if that was even an accurate way to describe someone. His eyes were focused on the instructor, trying to follow the left-right-left-left pattern with his feet.

“Pick it up!” Leigh-Anne, their instructor, yelled over the music.

 _Pick what up?_ Louis wondered. Then he saw that other people in front of him were going faster, so he attempted to move faster, but he knew he probably looked like a baby giraffe.

His only consolation was that Harry looked worse than he did. He wasn’t lying before when he said he lacked coordination. It was almost impressive.

Finally, the song ended, and Leigh-Anne said to grab a quick drink.

“So, did you find it yet?” Harry asked as they walked toward the back of the room where their water bottles were.

“What do you mean?”

“Something I’m not good at.”

Louis laughed. “Yeah, I might have to say I did. Don’t worry. I’m not good at it, either.”

“Better than me. At least you’re following the beat.”

“Barely! That last move with the feet had me almost tripping over myself.”

“Wouldn’t be the first time I’ve seen you fall over in class,” Harry said, smiling.

“Oh, don’t bring up yoga! I’ve gotten better!”

“You have,” Harry admitted. “You really have. Now imagine how much better you’ll get at Zumba if you keep going.”

“I’ll only go if you go.”

“Deal.”

“OK, everybody, can I just have your attention for a second?” Leigh-Anne called from the front.

Louis and Harry took one last drink before going back to their spots.

“For this song, we’ll be throwing some punches in with our steps,” Leigh-Anne announced. “So, the last song, we moved to the side like this, right?”

She quickly demonstrated the left-right-left-left pattern that Louis had struggled with.

Louis frowned, not liking where this was going.

“So as we move to the side, we want to punch that way, too. Watch.” Leigh-Anne stepped to the left and punched, turning her torso to the left. Then she repeated the steps, but to the right. “And then after you go to the right, you want to go to the left again, and after the first left punch, you want to turn your upper body just a little before punching again.”

Louis took a deep breath. Great. He couldn’t even step correctly, and now he had to throw in street fighting moves.

“You’ll pick it up soon enough,” Leigh-Anne promised. “Now give each other some room and we’ll get started.”

“Don’t be nervous,” Harry whispered.

“I’m not nervous.”

Harry smiled. “Yeah, you are. I know you; I can tell.”

“Maybe you don’t know everything about me.”

“Pretty sure I do.” Then Harry winked.

Louis was going to pass out.

The music started then, and Louis felt like he was already behind. Almost immediately, Leigh-Anne’s side punching move started.

Louis tried to keep up, and did OK for the most part. When the move changed to something a little easier, Louis was able to do the moves almost in time with Leigh-Anne, with just a slight delay.

When the chorus came back on, the side punching began again, and then he actually got the hang of it.

 _I’m doing it!_ Louis thought to himself excitedly.

Unfortunately, he should’ve been paying more attention to how close he and Harry were, because when Harry went right, Louis forgot which way he was supposed to go, and accidentally went left. If they were farther apart, well, maybe then Louis’ fist wouldn’t have collided with…

“Fuck!” Harry yelled, covering his now bloody nose with his hands.

“Oh, my God!” Louis stared in horror as Harry tilted his head back in an attempt to stop the bleeding. “Oh, shit!”

“Louis, get him out of here!” Leigh-Anne shouted from the front. She was still leading the class, clearly unsure if she should stop or not.

“Right! Yeah! I’m on it!”

Louis grabbed Harry’s arm and yanked him to the back of the room. He grabbed a bunch of paper towels from the wall dispenser and then pulled Harry out of the room.

“Here, pinch your nose,” Louis instructed, sitting Harry down on the bench outside of the training room and throwing the paper towels in his lap. “I’ll be right back.”

Harry stiffly nodded, but followed the directions.

After going up front to alert maintenance about the blood in the training room, Louis went back to Harry.

“How is it?” Louis asked as he sat down.

“It’s OK. It feels like the blood is stopping.”

“OK. I’m really sorry.”

“It’s fine,” Harry said.

“It’s really not.”

“Louis, it happens.”

“Oh, really? You regularly get punched in the face while working out?”

“It was an accident.”

Louis sighed. “I still feel awful.”

“You want to do me a favor?”

“Yeah, anything!” Louis stood up quickly. “What is it?”

“Can you get me some ice?”

“Oh, shit. Yeah! Hang on!”

Louis ran to the back storage room where they kept the instant cold packs. He squeezed the pack, activating the cooling gel inside and felt the coldness on his fingers within seconds.

He grabbed some more paper towels off one of the spare rolls and hurried out.

“Here you go.” He wrapped the ice pack in a paper towel before giving it to Harry.

“Thank you.” Harry pulled the bloody paper towels from his face and replaced it with the ice, wincing right when it hit his skin.

“Is there anything I can do to help?” Louis asked shyly.

“Promise you won’t let me drag you to anymore Zumba classes,” Harry joked.

Louis smiled. “You didn’t drag me here. I came willingly.”

“Sure you did.”

“I did!”

“So me taking a sudden interest in Zumba had nothing to do with it?”

Louis stalled. “Uhh… no?”

“What about water aerobics?”

“Well that actually turned out to be fun and I’ve always thought about trying it, so…”

“And cycling?”

“Who doesn’t like riding bikes?”

“And let me guess? Yoga’s always been on your bucket list?”

Louis scoffed. “Yeah! Headstands are awesome!”

Harry smiled before revealing the truth. “Jade told me she’s been trying to get you to do yoga for a while and you never went until I went.”

“Fuck.”

“Yup.”

“Um, OK… Listen.”

“Why did you say you went to yoga if you didn’t?” Harry asked gently, even though he already knew the answer. “And why did you try that other stuff?”

Louis shrugged, looking down at the ground. “I don’t know.”

“Louis…”

“Um… Well, I guess, um, you just make me really nervous. And, whenever I saw you, I always just, said stupid stuff or stuff that didn’t make sense. And then I started going to classes with you, and I felt like I actually had something to talk to you about and I could hold a somewhat normal conversation with you without you thinking I’m a complete idiot.”

“You’re not a complete idiot,” Harry said. “You might be a bit oblivious, though, if you hadn’t noticed all of the stupid stuff I did because of you, though.”  

“Like what?”

Now it was Harry’s turn to look shy. “Um, well, did I tell you how I wound up taking boxing lessons?”

“No.”

“Well, Niall was talking about the lessons, and he asked if I was interested in signing up. And I said yes, but the problem was, I was too focused on you. You were standing a few feet behind him, talking to Liam, and I thought you were the most attractive guy I’d ever seen, with your bright blue, crinkly eyes and beautiful smile and, um, your, uh…”

“My what?” Louis asked.

Harry sighed. “You know your ass is to die for, right?”

Louis smiled and pressed his lips together to try to hide it, as if that was even possible. “Um, yeah, I’ve heard that before.”

“Yeah, well. It’s true.”

Louis let out a short giggle before clapping a hand over his mouth.

“You’re cute when you smile,” Harry said.

“You’re cute all the time,” Louis shot back.

“Really? Even right now with this bloody nose that’s probably bruising up as we speak?”

“Definitely even now, just because you’re still looking at me like that.”

“Like what?”

“I don’t know, like… like you’re amazed, like… I’m the prettiest thing you’ve ever seen.”

“You are.”

Louis didn’t bother hiding his smile this time. “Um, so…”

“Louis, I need you to fill out this accident report,” Liam said, coming up to them.

“What?” Louis asked, whipping his head around to look at his least favorite person on the planet right now. “Are you serious?”

“Yeah. It’s policy. Anytime someone gets hurt on the premises, we have to fill this out. You know this.” Then he turned to Harry and asked, “How are you feeling?”

Harry shrugged a shoulder. “I’m fine, I guess. It doesn’t hurt anymore.”

“Good, I’m glad to hear it.”

He turned towards Liam. “Can I do it later?” Louis whispered.

“No.”

“Liam!”

“What?” Liam asked, completely confused.

“Um, I think I’m gonna go get my stuff,” Harry said, standing up. “Lou, thanks for the ice and, um, everything.”

“Harry, hang on-”

“I’ll catch you later.” Harry headed toward the locker rooms and Louis turned on Liam.

“What the fuck, Liam?” Louis hissed.

“What? What is wrong with you?”

“Things were finally happening with Harry!”

Liam narrowed his eyes. “I thought nothing was happening until after our last boxing lesson?”

“Oh, fuck off, your last lesson is in three days. I’m sure you’ll survive.”

“Well it’s probably not going to be now. He can’t box with a busted nose.”

“Shut up, Liam.”

“Are you filling this out or not?” Liam shoved the clipboard holding the accident report toward Louis.

Louis looked at the report and then back to Liam. As if it was even a decision.

“Not.” He started running down to the locker room.

“Louis!”

“I’ll do it before I leave! Love you, Liam!” He heard Liam grumbling behind him, but Louis couldn’t be bothered to care right then.

He burst into the locker room, and went back to the second row of lockers, where Harry usually was. Louis found him there, packing up his duffel bag.

“Hey,” Harry said when he saw him. “I actually have to go back to the room to get my water bottle. I left it-”

But Harry couldn’t finish his sentence, because just then Louis was stepping up to him, cupping his face with his hands and placing a soft kiss on Harry’s lips.

It would’ve been romantic – as romantic as a first kiss in a locker room could have been – had it not been for Harry’s hurt nose.

Harry groaned in pain, and Louis instantly pulled back.

“Shit, I’m so sorry! I forgot!” Louis said.

“It’s OK.”

“Fuck, I just can’t get this right.”

“It’s really fine. The gesture was appreciated, though. I see what you were going for.”

Louis frowned. He looked around the room, seeing that it was empty. He also didn’t hear anybody else around, especially not in the showers.

Then he grinned.

“What?” Harry asked skeptically.

Instead of answering, Louis just grabbed Harry’s towel and body wash from his duffel bag. Then he took his hand and led him back toward the showers.

“What are we doing?”

“We’re doing something that won’t cause your nose any more pain, but will be enjoyed by both of us and hopefully will be a better gesture than what I just did.”

Louis placed Harry’s towel on the hook outside of the shower stall furthest in the back and then put his shower gel on the floor inside of it.

“Louis, are you saying…”

Louis just winked before pulling off his shirt. He dropped it on the bench outside of the shower and then looked expectantly at Harry.

“Will you get in trouble for this?” Harry asked.

“Well, the only manager on staff right now is Perrie, and considering how much I know about her fun activities in the locker rooms, I’d say she owes me one.”

Harry smiled. “Well, OK, then.” He carefully pulled his tank top over his head and put it with Louis’.

Louis grinned and pulled off his sneakers, socks and shorts, adding them to the pile. Once he was down to his briefs, he slipped into the stall. He held the curtain open, watching as Harry actually sat down to pull off his socks and sneakers. Then he stood up and stretched before slowly peeling down his shorts.

“You’re the worst, you know that?” Louis asked.

Harry shrugged. “This was your idea.”

“Yeah, but I thought you’d move as fast as me. I’m getting old here.”

“Well hold your horses, grandpa.”

Louis rolled his eyes at Harry when he finally stepped inside and pulled the curtain shut behind him.

“About time,” Louis said as Harry crowded him against the wall. He waited for Harry to make the next move, not wanting to hurt him again. He stood still as Harry leaned in, resting one forearm on either side of Louis’ head and bringing his nose close to Louis’ throat. He didn’t make any contact just yet, just ghosted over Louis’ skin and giving Louis chills in the process.

Louis put his hands on Harry’s hips, if only to have something to hold onto. He spread his legs so that he could pull Harry closer to him.

Harry pressed the lightest of kisses to Louis’ jaw, taking the time not to actually bump his nose against him. He made a trail leading up toward his ear before ducking down to Louis’ chest and sucking light marks across Louis’ collarbones.

Louis licked his lips, feeling the heat rush to his cheeks. He could also feel his cock stiffening in his briefs. He shifted his hips, gasping a little at the movement of the fabric against his sensitive skin. He leaned forward a bit, making sure to press his growing erection into Harry’s thigh. He could feel Harry smirking against his skin and figured a bit of whining might speed things along.

“Harry, touch me. Please?”

“I am touching you.” As if to prove his point, Harry moved from Louis’ collarbones to his nipple, sucking one of them between his lips.

Louis hummed. “Not what I meant.” He pushed his hips forward again.

“Oh, did you want this one?” Harry switched to the other nipple, and if it didn’t feel so good, Louis would’ve actually been mad at Harry for teasing him.

“No, let me show you what I want.” Louis reached one hand down the front of Harry’s briefs and wrapped a fist around Harry’s dick. He gave it a quick squeeze before running his hand up and down, feeling it getting heavier between his fingers. “Your turn.”

“Oh, like this?”

Harry moved one arm from the wall and slid his hand into Louis’ briefs. He took hold of Louis’ cock and ran his thumb across the tip before sliding his hand down and back up. He slid his fist a few more times, jerking Louis off as he grew harder.

“Yeah, just like that,” Louis whispered. He let his eyes drift shut, feeling hot, even hotter than he’d been at Zumba.

But then Harry’s hand was pulling off Louis and out of his briefs.

“What are you doing?” Louis asked.

“There’s too many clothes in the way,” Harry answered with a wink.

Louis rolled his eyes, but pulled down his briefs and stared at Harry, waiting for him to catch up. Harry smirked and yanked his down, as well. He took Louis’ out of his hand and tossed both pairs to the bench, along with the rest of his clothes.

As Louis checked out Harry’s body – the first time he could with full permission – Harry reached over to the side of the shower and turned the water on. He adjusted it to make it warmer and both of them took a minute to rinse themselves off.

Once the water was at a comfortable temperature, and Louis felt a bit more refreshed since his workout, he pushed Harry against the wall behind him, careful not to shove too hard that Harry would hit his head or anything to get hurt even worse.

Then he slowly dropped down to his knees. He rubbed his hands up Harry’s legs and around the backs of his thighs. Then he kissed the bottom of Harry’s stomach, making his way slowly down to his cock. When he got there, he placed a simple kiss to the tip before flicking his tongue across it.

Harry gasped. Then he tried to take a deep breath, but he wasn’t as successful as he would’ve liked to be, though, because that was when Louis wrapped his lips around the head of Harry’s dick.

Louis slowly sank down, running his tongue all around Harry’s cock as he went. He got about halfway down before the need to breathe made him have to move back. He looked up at Harry as he moved his head back and winked when he pulled all the way off.

“Shit,” Harry whispered.

This prompted Louis to go back. He relaxed his throat so that he would be able to move down a bit more. When he went as far as he could, he covered up what his mouth didn’t with his hand. He started to move up and down now, keeping his head and hand in sync as he did.

He stared up at Harry the whole time, fully enjoying his view. He got to watch Harry’s breathing get heavier and see his eyes flutter, struggling to stay open. He already knew right when Harry was fully hard, since he could feel it on his tongue, but it added to the experience when he could see Harry’s fists clenching and unclenching and his lower lip being pulled between his teeth.

And then he heard Harry moan, which was a religious experience all by itself. Suddenly, Louis wanted to go faster, be better and make Harry come harder. He started to move a bit quicker, going faster until Harry was gasping and squirming right where he stood.

“Louis,” Harry moaned again. His hands were pressed up against the wall behind him, but there was nothing to grip onto. Finally he just put his hands on the side of Louis’ head, just holding on.

“Fuck.”

Louis kept moving, but when he was nearly all the way off, he hollowed his cheeks and sucked extra hard, keeping his tongue pressed firmly against the tip.

“I’m gonna come,” Harry warned.

Louis winked and moved back down quickly, keeping his pace steady.

“Lou, pull back. Pull back.”

Louis moved off just in time for Harry to start coming. Louis was back enough so he didn’t choke, and he swallowed everything Harry gave him. He kept his hand moving, squeezing out every last drop, and when he was sure Harry was done, he pulled off with a ‘pop.’

As Harry stood still, trying to catch his breath, Louis stood up and buried his face in the crook of Harry’s neck. He ran a hand across Harry’s chest, waiting for Harry to realize that Louis hadn’t gotten off yet.

Luckily, he didn’t have to wait too long for Harry to wrap his hand around Louis’ cock. Louis took a deep breath as he felt Harry’s fist move quickly up and down, applying just the right amount of pressure.

It didn’t take too long for Louis to spill out over Harry’s hand, and he was suddenly very thankful that they were in a shower and everything would just be washed away.

The two of them stood there under the warm spray for so long that the temperature started to drop.

“So…” Harry started to say.

“Do you want to go out with me?” Louis asked.

“I think that’s the logical next step. You know, flirt for a few weeks, get each other off in the locker room showers, go on a first date… That’s how things work, right?”

Louis snorted. “With us, apparently it is.”

“But yes, I would love to go out with you.”

“Good. And can you do me a favor?”

“Sure.”

“Can you leave Liam a really good review for the boxing lessons? I’ll never hear the end of it if you don’t.”

Harry laughed. “I was already planning on it, but yes.”

“Thanks. And don’t tell him about this, or our date until after your last lesson. A very important soccer ball is on the line.”

“OK…” Harry said. “I can do that, too.”

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome. So, what do you say? Shower and then, maybe getting something to eat? I’m starving.”

“Um… We can, but would you mind waiting for me? I have to fill out an accident report. I may have punched a really hot guy tonight because he dragged me to Zumba.”

Harry smiled. “Really hot guy, huh? Well I hope he forgives you.”

“I think he will. I’ll just let him grab my ass; that’ll take care of everything.”

Harry put his hands on Louis’ hips and slid them around to his ass, giving each cheek a quick squeeze.

“You know what? I think your strategy works.”

Louis giggled and hid his face against Harry’s chest.

Earlier tonight, he’d been kicking himself for agreeing to go to Zumba, and now he was standing in the shower with the guy he’d been lusting over for weeks after literally punching him in the face.

Funny how life worked out sometimes. Who knew a lack of rhythm could be such a good thing?

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed! Comments and kudos are always appreciated!  
> If you would like to, maybe reblog [this post](http://flamboyantommo.tumblr.com/post/166550760907) I made, too?   
> <3


End file.
